We have yet another interesting question to ponder. Are airgun silencers necessary? Well, we guess it all depends on the shooter and the circumstances they find themselves in. Along the same lines, the other question is whether airgun silencers are effective on all airguns or just some?
Shot Noise vs. Mechanical Noise
We already have an article on suppressor technology so we won’t go too deep here. Essentially, since you don’t have the explosion of gunpowder, you have two types of noise with an airgun: mechanical noise and shot noise. Guns with many parts moving, i.e., spring and gas ram guns, will have a lot of mechanical noise. CO2, PCP, and Pump-Pneumatic airguns will have less mechanical noise and more shot noise. A suppressor on an air-powered gun only addresses shot noise.
Why Do We Want Quiet Guns?
There are a couple of rules of thought here. First, why not? If we can shoot anywhere, anytime, and have zero impact on our neighbors in the way of noise, why wouldn’t we want to make our guns as quiet as practical? It just makes sense. From a hunting perspective, it’s great because you can often take multiple shots without disturbing the game around you.
Another reason is simply the cool factor. To get a silencer for a firearm takes money, time, a lot of time, and did we mention money? Currently, airguns are not regulated, and there are many 3rd party moderators on the market that are specifically designed and made for airguns. With careful planning, you can have a very powerful airgun that we like to call mouse fart quiet.
When Doesn’t It Make Sense To Silence Your Airgun?
This question is going to be for each airgun owner to decide. When it comes to big bore airguns, taking out the report is more challenging. You need to capture the escaping air and channel it in such a way that it does not generate noise out the front of the barrel.
Big bore airguns use a lot of air which means you have a lot of air to channel away. Most of the effective big bore airgun moderators are quite large and can make the airgun unwieldy, a better option is to have it integrated right into the barrel shroud. The suppressed Texan airguns from AirForce are a great example of how to suppress a large bore airgun.
The other time it probably doesn’t make sense to try and use an airgun silencer is when your airgun is just too loud mechanically. For example, some PCP airguns have a loud, resonating ping sound from the air reservoir. You can’t overcome that with an airgun silencer. Or, as mentioned above, spring or gas ram airguns where there’s just a very loud slap from the piston hitting the front of the compression chamber.
So What’s The Final Word?
Whether or not airgun silencers are necessary is completely up to you. If you are a backyard airgunner who loves to shoot and not bother or be bothered by their neighbors, we say a resounding yes.
Suppose you are a hunter who wants to spend all day in the woods taking different game without spooking game in the neighboring farm, again, a responding yes. On the other hand, if you have an older spring gun that slaps and clacks, then you may not want to go through the effort of trying to suppress it.
The beauty of airguns is that, at least for now, the choice is completely up to you. So whether you want to silence your airgun or not, just get out and enjoy the sport.
If you have questions about which airguns are the quietest on the market, just give us a ring here at Airgun Depot, and we’ll be pleased to help point you in the right direction for your airgunning needs.
